About

Zoë Landau Konson is a London based artist and designer who creates eye catching sculptures that are commemorative and intriguing.

She grew up in a creative, refugee family deeply affected by the aftermath of displacement but brimming with stories, secrets and the unconventional. When she was eleven, her parents, in search of a new identity, invested in a rock band and life for them all changed dramatically. They filled their home with a constant stream of exotic visitors from many countries; film directors, creative’s and a variety of people who regularly came to stay. Her doctor father, a gifted musician, drew cartoons, wrote limericks and went out gigging with his guitar. Her mother, the first female photojournalist in Fleet Street, became a successful jewellery designer, after travelling the world taking photographs of the famous. At home, her parents spoke Italian, a ‘secret’ language all three children understood. Five years of travelling to Italy and eating Italian food at home, were replaced by frequent trips to Greece and immersion in all things Greek. Later, India took its place and the search for a new identity continued. At thirteen, in search of her own sense of belonging, Zoë joined a religious cult, rescued a year later when the cult suddenly fled the country.

This environment had a huge impact on Zoë and the recurring themes that now influence her work are generated by a fascination with these memories, stories and often complex family relationships. Her work explores ideas drawn from this legacy and their effect; identity, femininity, desire, repression, absence and loss.

Zoë’s work is largely knitted or crocheted, using the two crochet stitches her grandmother taught her. Sometimes, she produces wrapped and stitched textiles and she is also creating a new body of work using hair. Her method of construction consists of making multiples of similar shape and uniting them in a final assemblage. It’s an incredibly repetitive way of
working but compulsive.

“My work plays with the uncertainty, possibilities and longing within each of us and the sometimes-ambiguous way we express that to the outside world. Many of my pieces teem with a mass of tactile and seductive bodily forms which tempt, naughtily, and yet conceal something much darker and vulnerable. I think the repetition represents a way of creating order, especially because some of the themes I work with generate so much chaos”.

In 2010 Zoë was shortlisted for an exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery and since then she has been making sculpture full time. Zoë’s work has been included in numerous exhibitions in London. She is also starting to gain an international reputation with work in private collections in the USA and most notably; the recent inclusion of her work in a major ten-month exhibition at The Fries Museum in the Netherlands. At the beginning of this year, she was selected as a winning finalist by The Mexican Embassy for their annual ‘Camaradas’ competition.